Which word does "incogniti" go with in this sentence?

Latin Learning Latin
1

Dear Latinists,
This sentence is from page 56 of Volume 3 of Commercii Epistolaris Uffenbachiani Selecta, published in 1753:
“Miri sane sunt characteres, mihique aeque ac illi, quibus incantatores sua mysteria obvolvunt, incogniti.”
Would you translate it as
“The characters are really amazing, to me as well as to him/her, in which unknown enchanters hide their mysteries.”
Or
“The characters are really amazing, unknown to me as well as to him/her, in which enchanters hide their mysteries.”

2

I would say it’s connected to “characteres”: The unknown characters are really amazing…

3

i think incogniti should agree with the nearest incantatores.

4

Thanks to both of you. Can a conclusion be drawn then that the sentence is ambiguous, allowing both readings?

5

I agree with tico. Since incantatores is enclosed between the pronoun quibus and the verb obvolvunt, it seems more likely that incogniti actually refers to it.

6

You mean more _un_likely? In tico’s reading, incogniti refers to characteres, not to incantatores.

7

Yes, to characteres. Sorry for the confusion!

8

Thanks. No problem.

9

A third reading has just come to my mind. What bothers me is that the “illi” in this sentence has no antecedent anywhere in the correspondence. So, maybe, it is not a singular personal pronoun in the dative case but a plural demonstrative pronoun in the nominative. What is your opinion of the following reading?

“The characters are truly amazing to me as much as those unknown ones in which enchanters hide their mysteries.”

If this is an acceptable translation then what it says is in agreement with its author’s interest in clandestine manuscripts. Note that the comma after “characteres” is not there in the original handwritten letter, only in the published book. The sentence in Uffenbach’s handwriting is punctuated like this:

“Miri sane sunt characteres mihique aeque ac illi quibus incantatores sua mysteria obvolvunt, incogniti.”

10

now this is right hundred percent

11

Thanks. :slight_smile:

12

There’s also a symmetry: “Miri”, which refers to “characteres” opens the sentence, “incogniti” closes it: miri…characteres…incogniti.
Again, just my 2 cents.
Concerning your interpretation of “illi”, the problem is that you have -que: mihique, which clearly connects to aeque ac illi; again, symmetry… ET mihi ET aeque illi.